How Many Hours-Before-Bedtime Should One Take a Sleep-Aid?

@mythociate (21437)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
March 14, 2013 12:27pm CST
I woke up way-too-late this morning, so I'm going to take a sleep-aid to help me get to sleep 'early' (i.e. the normal time, but 'early' to my body---for which it'll still be the middle of the evening) tonight. So the timing of the sleep is crucial. I know the sleep-aid will start working the minute it starts dissolving in my stomach and coursing through my blood, but I want to know how long it'll take for the sleep-aid to really start working! The sleep-aid I'm planning to use says to take it 'at bedtime,' but surely that's just because one does not to be "in the middle of something that needs attention" when the sleep-aid really kicks-in. (If you know anything about how these ingredients make a difference: the active ingredient id Diphenhydramine HCI, listed at 25 mg ... funny; because AN ENTIRE CAPLET is said to be 25 mg, & the inactive ingredients listed are corn starch, dicalcium phospate, FD&C blue #1 aluminum lake, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol, silica ge, talc, titanium dioxide---all surely in percentages-per-25mg-caplet too small to be worth mentioning ) So how long will it take my body to dissolve that compound & interpret it as a signal to 'sleep!'?
2 people like this
8 responses
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
14 Mar 13
follow what the doctor has said or what is written on the bottle
15 Mar 13
dont follow any thing written. follow ur heart
• Mexico
15 Mar 13
and "pinkuflick"when did you become a doctor after all this is why we have them here on planet earth
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
15 Mar 13
I have heard that when you are taking a sleeping aid you should take it within the hour of bedtime. If you want to be asleep by 11pm then take it by 10pm. That is what I have done in the past and it works. Your body will start to relax with in thirty minutes and you should be asleep within the hour of taking it. Good luck and I hope what you are taking is not addictive.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
14 Mar 13
You need to more base it on when you need to wake up. So if you have to be up by 7 am you should be taking the pill around 10pm to allow about a hour for the pill to kick in and then 8 hours of sleep. How long it takes will really depend on your body. I have known people who had a sleep aid work in a few minutes and they'd sleep 4 hours and other people whose pill took a lot longer to kick in but they'd sleep for about 10 hours.
@natliegleb (5175)
• India
14 Mar 13
i think and believe atleast before one hour going to bed,we must get it dissolved completely and soaked in it
@enelym001 (8322)
• Philippines
14 Mar 13
That usually happens to me before when I sleep too long and woke up too late. Over sleeping can make us wide awake in the evening. But I got no idea if it's gonna take effect immediately or not upon swallowing the pill. I haven't tried as I feel it is not so good taking sleep-aid. I guess you need to get yourself tired so you'd feel sleepy.
@yutamina (12)
• Vietnam
15 Mar 13
sleep-aid is not good for health. Don't use this. Do you usually go to bed late before? If so, I think you should take about 1 months to be used going to bed early. In first month, you could not be able to sleep but it is better in next months.
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
14 Mar 13
The directions should beon the bottle but I have used a sleep aid intermittently and would take it when in bed and read or watch television or something until I felt sleepy. It took about twenty to thirty minutes for it to work
• India
14 Mar 13
taking aid for sleep is not good, but i will tell you a fact about our sleep hope you will find something out of this, our mind only sleeps for 2 hours and the next two hours it starts working like on your dreams , and then the next two hours it again goes to sleep and this process is continued untill your body is satisfied. so if you will wake up when your brain is sleeping you will have a good wake up and your daily activities will go on smoothly. but if you wake up when your brain is working or dreaming you will have a lazy day. as you are feeling it today. this works and is scientifically proven.